It can be difficult to ask for help when you are used to being the person who provides help to others.

Arlene Hanson, owner of the 16th Street Café, is suffering from cancer that has spread throughout her body, and she is seeking help from the community.

"I basically have never asked anyone in my life for anything," she said.

Hanson was diagnosed in Montana, and she returned to Cañon City without health insurance.

"I knew I had to, for the first time in my life, ask somebody for help," she said. "People have embraced me in this community. It has been phenomenal. It's just been really good."

Hanson will have a fundraiser and open house 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Gibson Mansion, 907 Greenwood Ave.

Brunch will be served from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., followed by a luncheon of appetizers. The evening will include Christmas cookies, chocolates and eggnog. There will be music throughout the day.

There is no cost to attend, but Hanson will accept donations.

Hanson is seeking alternative treatments for her cancer.

"I'm not doing chemo, and I'm not doing radiation," Hansen said. "I'm going kind of a different route with it, more of a natural kind of thing. The thing that is vital to me, is that in many ways this has been the greatest gift in my life, because it's caused me to change things in life."